- 16 minutes ago
Kevin Sheehan takes a closer look at the state of the Washington Commanders, Adam Peters' performance as general manager, and what comes next for this organization.
Is Adam Peters getting too much of a pass? Kevin examines the positives and negatives of Peters' personnel decisions, whether his overall body of work deserves more scrutiny, and why the upcoming trade deadline presents an important opportunity to recoup draft capital for expiring contracts.
Is Adam Peters getting too much of a pass? Kevin examines the positives and negatives of Peters' personnel decisions, whether his overall body of work deserves more scrutiny, and why the upcoming trade deadline presents an important opportunity to recoup draft capital for expiring contracts.
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00:00From Semper Fi Fred, Semper Fi Fred says, Kevin, why does Adam Peters get a pass from you?
00:08I think Peters should be in sell mode to prove to ownership that he's got the big picture in mind,
00:16or he should be done.
00:19Yeah, I haven't given him a pass, Semper Fi Fred. I'm just saying that I don't think that he's going
00:24to get fired.
00:25Now, in terms of what my belief is, I have gone through this many times.
00:30I think Adam Peters, if you add it all up, pros, every move, and you say plus or minus, there
00:37are more actual good moves than bad moves.
00:41I know that that sounds crazy to many of you who live on social media, but I'm not going to
00:46go through the whole list again.
00:47I've done that many times, but I don't think that they believe that he is in jeopardy,
00:54and I think they like Adam Peters.
00:55Now, the David Blau situation is an interesting one, because I think Peters was significant to that decision.
01:04But, yeah, I just, look, he should have the big picture in mind.
01:10I guess, to your point, I'm not going to give him a pass if he doesn't do his best to
01:18get enough back for expiring contracts at the deadline.
01:22Now, I don't know what the aggregate number of picks they could pull back for their expiring contracts are right
01:29now.
01:29Duran was the one that legitimately would have brought back, you know, I think an early day three pick, a
01:35fourth rounder, maybe a conditional third, fourth.
01:38But, again, I want to emphasize something.
01:40What we think might be the right way to think, but it's not what they think right now.
01:47They think they are one game away Thursday night from being two back of the division-leading Giants with the
01:56tiebreaker in hand with a part of their schedule,
01:59especially after Cincinnati a week from Monday night, which they'll have plenty of rest going into that game.
02:05Cincinnati coming off a Sunday night game against Pittsburgh.
02:08Cincinnati's defense, by the way, will be the first break in terms of defensive football teams that they've faced in
02:16a while.
02:17Like, they have faced, the Giants are pretty good defensively, and they actually carved them up until the final drive
02:23in overtime.
02:24The 49ers are good defensively.
02:26The Eagles are still okay defensively.
02:28And the Rams, obviously, with Miles Garrett back, are very good defensively.
02:32The Giants will be a good defensive test.
02:34The Bengals will be the first team defensively that they should be able to move the football consistently against and
02:42score a bunch of points.
02:43But back to the big takeaway here for all of you, I think, should be no matter what you think,
02:51no matter what the Internet thinks,
02:53they think because they also view the NFL as incredibly dynamic, changing week to week.
02:59You have no idea what anybody is going to be until, you know, we get to the end of this.
03:04That they are one win away, and that one win will be a springboard to a big finish, a division
03:12title, a home playoff game as a three seed,
03:15because the NFC East champ at this point is probably going to be the three seed.
03:20The NFC South champ will be the four seed.
03:23The NFC South doesn't have one team with a winning record.
03:26The Giants are three games over 500.
03:29So the NFC East right now looks like a three seed, wins it.
03:34The division winner earns the three seed.
03:37And at that point, it's like we think we can win a playoff game.
03:42And then at that point, we're going to be a completely different team.
03:45The defense is getting better, which it is.
03:47It is getting better.
03:50That's what they think.
03:52That's why I am not expecting much today.
03:55Am I expecting them to be a buyer?
03:57Buyer? No.
03:59I mean, not a big buyer.
04:02Supplementing some offensive line, depth, D-line depth.
04:07Maybe if there's some sort of pass rusher.
04:11That kind of a move.
04:13A blocking tight end.
04:15Jesus.
04:16They got to get better running the football.
04:18One thing real quickly, because I know I mentioned this yesterday.
04:21I really believe now that two things David Blau should be thinking about.
04:28Number one is more no huddle for this offense.
04:35They are more comfortable in no huddle.
04:37Jaden's more comfortable in no huddle.
04:39And I think that they've got a better opportunity in no huddle.
04:43Like, he said that they're not moving away from everything, Cliff.
04:47And they haven't, really.
04:51I mean, other than, you know, not doing a lot of no huddle.
04:54The no huddle does not equate necessarily to hurry up.
04:57Sometimes it does.
04:58Sometimes it doesn't.
04:59But I think more no huddle.
05:01And then I think Jaden's got to become part of the run game.
05:05Not a high-risk run game.
05:09Not counter.
05:11Not, you know, dive.
05:13But option.
05:15Zone read.
05:16We saw one the other day.
05:18I think that Jaden, as a zone read quarterback, presented as such,
05:24more often than they've done it so far this year,
05:27will actually boost the overall run game.
05:30I want to see those two things become a part of the offense starting Thursday night.
05:37And I think we saw maybe an indication, because we did see one pull on a zone read.
05:42First time we've seen that, you know, since he came back from injury.
05:46I think.
05:47I think that's the first time he's pulled on a zone read since weeks one and two.
05:54Or weeks one and a half before he got hurt at the end of the first half of the Dallas
05:58game.
05:59All right.
05:59Back to the question at hand.
06:00Trade deadline today at 4 p.m.
06:03What do you think they'll do?
06:04What would you like them to do?
06:07I don't think they're going to do much.
06:10I would like them to do the math, obviously.
06:13And where it makes sense, be a seller of expiring contract players.
06:20But making sure that what they get back is worthwhile as it relates to compensatory picks
06:27if they were to sign elsewhere in free agency.
06:30Let's go to John in Springfield.
06:33John, thanks for holding.
06:34Go ahead.
06:35Hey, Kevin.
06:36How's it going?
06:37Huge fan of the show.
06:39What I would love for them to do is trade for Jonathan Taylor.
06:43I mean, honestly, like, I know it sounds crazy, but a second and a fourth for Jonathan Taylor.
06:50You're not getting it.
06:51This team hasn't extended.
06:52Giants have already offered two seconds.
06:56This year's second and next year's second.
06:58At the end of the day, this team has not extended a second-round pick in a decade.
07:03So, obviously, they can't draft second-round picks.
07:06Adam Peters is one out of four on second-round picks since he's been here.
07:11So, why not try to get something that you know what you're going to get
07:16rather than taking a chance on a young guy?
07:19It would be exciting, but you're not getting Jonathan Taylor for a second and a fourth.
07:25Even this year's second and next year's second.
07:27Okay.
07:29Two twos?
07:30I don't know if that's enough.
07:32Didn't the Giants offer two twos and they turned it down?
07:34I think two, yeah.
07:35I'm pretty sure they turned down two twos because they also want some extra stuff in there.
07:39Now, Washington's two twos right now would be more attractive than the Giants' two twos,
07:44at least in the upcoming draft.
07:47And in reality, we haven't extended a second-round pick in a decade.
07:51So, we have a history of flopping on second-round picks.
07:55So, why not get a legitimate running back that can help him for the next two to three years
08:02rather than prodding out old Austin Eckler or injury-prone, fumble-prone Ja'Cory Kroski merit?
08:10Like, I just feel like a legitimate running back to go with Jaden Daniels
08:14will change the whole complexion of the whole offense.
08:18Sam Cosme was extended, just so you know.
08:21He was the second-round pick in 2021.
08:23He got a big contract.
08:25So, it's not every second-round pick.
08:27With this group right now, but it's only been three drafts,
08:31they haven't had the opportunities to extend their second-round picks.
08:35Newton, Sandra still, you know, Amos, or they didn't have a second-round pick, right?
08:41Antonio Williams was third-round.
08:43Look, I mean, if they did, first of all, there's no talk of that.
08:47I don't think that they're in the market for Jonathan Taylor.
08:50But the thing about Jonathan Taylor is he's not a rental.
08:53He's under contract, you know, for two more years, I think, after this year, right?
08:58I think that's what it is.
08:59So, let me pull that up.
09:02Just tell me what the Jonathan Taylor contract is.
09:04Is he under contract in 27 and 28 or just 27?
09:08It might be just 27.
09:11It would appear he hits free agency in 2029.
09:15So, he's got 28 under the belt, too.
09:17Yeah, so, you're getting Jonathan Taylor in his prime for the rest of this year, 27 and 28.
09:25But the equivalent of a first-rounder is what you'd be giving up for him.
09:28And, you know, there is something to be said for, and I understand this,
09:32and it's not just Adam Peters and his recent draft history.
09:35It goes for a lot of, you know, overall in general.
09:40You know, the maybes versus the definites you have to consider.
09:45And Jonathan Taylor has proven to be a definite, a definite elite-level running back.
09:52Versatility at the position as well.
09:54Let's go to Tony in Fairfield, Pennsylvania.
09:58Tony, what would you like them to do before the 4 p.m. trade deadline?
10:02What do you think they will do?
10:05Well, first of all, thanks, Kevin, for taking the call.
10:08Sure.
10:09I would probably trade the whole offensive line except for Cosby for one seventh-round pick in 10 years.
10:16Okay.
10:17Come on.
10:18And this Taylor thing, he has no one to block for him.
10:21I mean, why would you do that, bring him in when the offensive line is terrible?
10:26And trading to get more picks, I kind of don't trust Adam Peterson.
10:32I mean, we had three drafts with a rookie contract, and we're still not doing all that good.
10:37And then it just worries me about his draft picks and the future with the money situation that we're going
10:44to have to be paying Gene Daniels.
10:46Anyway, thanks.
10:47Yeah, appreciate it.
10:48The offensive line still, for those of you not following it, it's obviously not a great offensive line.
10:56And Sunday was one of the real struggle days of the year.
11:00Part of that, I don't know if you've heard of him, is that Miles Garrett and the other gentleman, his
11:05name is Aaron Donald, they play for the other team.
11:08That had something to do with Sunday.
11:10But this team's still been pretty damn good in terms of a pass-blocking unit.
11:20The latest ESPN pass-block win rate number, for whatever it's worth, Washington is sixth in the entire NFL as
11:29a pass-blocking unit.
11:31Now, as a run-blocking unit, dead last.
11:34They've been there for a while now.
11:36So I would agree with you on that.
11:38Let's go to Will in South Florida, getting a lot of calls from outside the area today.
11:44Will, go ahead.
11:47My man, Kevin.
11:48Thank you, my friend, for taking the call.
11:51I just landed yesterday from the DMV.
11:55I went to the game.
11:56My family gave me the gift on my 62nd birthday to go see my team.
12:02Congrats.
12:03Since I'm eight years old here from Miami.
12:04Wait, you're going to the Giant game or you went to the game Sunday?
12:07No, I went to the game.
12:09I just got back.
12:09We got back yesterday.
12:11And what a beautiful day, weekend.
12:15I'm just blown away.
12:17I need to go find me a little.
12:19Yes, we loved it.
12:20But, Kev, me as a fan, I'd love to do a little selling and a little buying, if possible.
12:27We need to bring a little reinforcement without hurting the bank.
12:31You know what I mean?
12:32We need drafts.
12:33We definitely need to still build.
12:34But, man, if we can find a six-rounder or something, swap them up, this team is depleted.
12:41I mean, when you think about it, they're just depleted.
12:44Now we're going back into the, what do you call it, practice squad players and people off the streets.
12:50And there's a little hopium left in me that if we can beat these Giants, and I really believe we're
12:56going to do it, that the season's not done yet.
12:59Because, as you said, the schedule is favorable.
13:03And if we can just get on a run, get, you know what this team has lost is their confidence
13:07from top to bottom.
13:09Everybody is on pins and needles.
13:12You're right about that.
13:13And you know life, you cannot win this way.
13:15You're right about that.
13:16When you're questioning everything, when you're second-guessing.
13:19Year one, they couldn't do nothing wrong.
13:22The same organization, same management.
13:25Everything was just going their way.
13:27And that's just life.
13:28Sometimes stuff happens, right?
13:30But, man, we just need to get a little bit of confidence, get Jaden back, because he's getting, first time
13:37in his life, he's getting critiqued.
13:39And I'm sure he's dealing with all that.
13:41So, let's just see if we can pull this on Thursday, quick turnaround, and hopefully we got some football left
13:48to the end of the year, man.
13:49Thanks a lot.
13:50And don't get rid of Nick Cross.
13:53I got his glove yesterday.
13:55He threw it in the stands, and I got Cross.
13:57And I love that guy.
13:58That's a future guy you can build on.
14:01Good call, and happy belated birthday to you.
14:04So, you know, it's so true what he just said.
14:08But this organization right now is on eggshells, walking on eggshells, pins and needles.
14:14There is a loss of confidence.
14:16I see it in Quinn in these press conferences.
14:19And it's not just the losing last year and this year.
14:23This year, the losses have included these embarrassing situations.
14:29situations that bring into question intelligence, you know, savvy, things that are really tough to deal with, but they're not
14:40unfair critiques of the team.
14:43You know, and that's also not crazy to think that all of a sudden in the minds of ownership that
14:51things have been presented that they didn't really knew, you know, about from 2024.
14:56I mean, two years ago, this team's 7-2.
15:00They've traded for Marshawn Lattimore.
15:03And you can say what you want about how you felt about it in hindsight.
15:07The majority thought, why not?
15:10This guy's not a rental.
15:11He's, you know, the injury thing was always a question.
15:14Some of you pushed back because of the recent injury history.
15:17Understood.
15:18But they were going for it, man.
15:19They had a quarterback on a rookie deal.
15:21They had a chance to make a run.
15:23They had a chance to be a two-seed at that point, you know, in the NFC playoffs.
15:28And so, those, they have not, they had never been presented in 30-something years with a situation like that.
15:35And here we are two years later.
15:37Last year, to me, I've said it a million times, I mean, you can't overcome what they dealt with last
15:44year injury-wise.
15:45It just doesn't happen that often in the NFL.
15:48Well, many, many, many more times than not, teams' seasons end, you know, in those situations.
15:55They just, it's impossible.
15:57You know, even at the college level, look at Ohio State right now.
16:00Lose their quarterback, and a team that was favored to win the national championship isn't even going to make the
16:06playoff.
16:06We see it all the time.
16:08Last year, I write off.
16:09And I think they were like, well, we're not going to deal with that again.
16:12No one will ever deal with what we dealt with last year.
16:16And they started getting injured again, and bad things happened, and the start was slow, and they lost a couple
16:23of close games.
16:24And then the introduction of the embarrassing endings against the Giants, and even on Sunday, to a lesser extent.
16:32But still, you know, even if you didn't, like, I was thinking about this.
16:37The end of the game on Sunday, if the Giants situation hadn't happened, if the 49er game situation hadn't happened,
16:45there would have been some discussion about it, for sure.
16:48But they don't get the benefit of the doubt anymore.
16:50And they're feeling that.
16:52They're feeling that.
16:53That Philadelphia first half, a week ago Sunday night, you could feel through the TV set how tight they were,
17:01down 10-0.
17:03Now, they were resilient, and they did it against the 49ers as well.
17:06Had a chance to win that game.
17:08Came back and smothered Philadelphia, really, over the final three quarters, although the game was closer than the score indicated.
17:16But Will is 100% right.
17:19This is an organization right now, in a short two years, that has gone from, wow, we didn't expect this
17:25to happen, but we knew we were smart, and we knew we were good.
17:28And Quinn's a phenomenal leader, and he brought in a great staff.
17:32You know, we've got a former professional head coach as the offensive coordinator.
17:36We've got one of his protégés that is going to develop into a good defensive coordinator.
17:41We got the quarterback right.
17:42I still think they got the quarterback right.
17:44And, you know, this is the beginning of a run.
17:48This is the beginning of five to ten years of being relevant for the first time in three-plus decades.
17:55And here they are now, and last year, I don't blame them for it.
17:59I don't.
18:00This year, it's not just that they're losing.
18:03It's the embarrassment injected into the conversation.
18:07And they're tight, man.
18:09They are tight.
18:10They've lost some confidence.
18:12I think you can see it sometimes with Quinn.
18:14Over-explaining, you know, these situations that he's not able to explain.
18:19You can feel the tightness watching him.
18:24I mean, I think it's going to play.
18:27I think there's a chance it plays into the game Thursday night.
18:30Philadelphia was terrible.
18:32Okay, so as tight as they were, they were able to overcome it.
18:36If they're tight that way going into the Giant game, they're going to lose.
18:41And the season's officially going to be over in terms of the competitive portion of it.
18:47And the focus will then be on who the next head coach is going to be and should the general
18:52manager keep his job.
18:54But there is definitely a walking on eggshells, pins and needles.
19:00I mean, you can cut it with a – I mean, you're going to need a knife to cut the
19:04tightness right now.
19:05This thing is wound up in that building.
19:09And I think they do have genuine belief in the defense getting better, in the quarterback being elite, in some
19:16of the other players, maybe Burks getting back and helping.
19:20And, you know, I think they believe in some of this stuff and they believe they can get back into
19:24it.
19:25But, man, I don't think they're confident of it necessarily.
19:29I mean, it could be a bit of wish casting in there.
19:32And as the general manager, you have to – you've got to basically snuff out the wish casting.
19:40When that is a part of the current situation, you've got to be the guy that says, no, I get
19:48it, and I want you guys to continue to play hard, but I got to look ahead.
19:52Because you're talking about much less than 50-50 probability in terms of us making a run.
20:01And I got to think about 27 and 28.
20:05The organization's tight as hell right now.
20:08Can't you guys feel it?
20:10I think you can.
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